Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Lilies

I woke up early this morning, rested and comfortable, and was pleased my neighbors were able to behave like polite members of society last night. I know that nothing is given, particularly here in the hood, so it's not like I've had a change of heart about most of my neighbors. I'm just glad for the small favors in life. Tomorrow is another day, and well, every day is the weekend for a lot of people around here, so my good mood can change pretty quickly.

And speaking of some of the lousier neighbors, I took a risk — a risk I currently regret — with my irises, the irises my mother gave me, by planting them out for public viewing, which basically means "public consumption" here, with the sense of entitlement that is so prevalent in Trenton. The time to move and divide irises is July, so I'll be moving most of them to the backyard, because they're just too lovely, and hold too much sentiment for me to allow them to be stolen. I hate to be that way, though, so I'll probably keep a few out along the front and the sides: I'll just move them a bit closer to the house, and perhaps add a border of poison ivy along the sidewalk, as a deterrent to the little pricks who think the world owes them my flowers.

I'm glad I didn't take the same risk with my lilies: I did plant some along our side entrance, but much further back, which does not necessarily guarantee they'll stay put: I have seen wretched little jerks standing in my side yard (such as it is), and once watched a couple of teenage knuckleheads wrestle right there, without regard to my plants, or the little shin-high decorative edging, which I installed as a friendly reminder to people with boundary issues to stay the hell on the sidewalk. It does usually deter the wrestlers and those with general confusion over where to walk, but just not always. This, I've learned, is my own damn fault, since no one here in Trenton is to blame for anything, and I was the mongo for trying to make my yard look nice, and nice, after all, provides way too much of a temptation for some people. Anyway, it's really not that often I'm hit by flower thieves, or side yard wrestlers, and since I woke up so refreshed and happy, I'll stop focusing on them, if only for a few more minutes.

Anyway, most of my lilies are in my backyard, which is fenced in; and even though I know there are plenty of native lilies, I love the big showy Asian varieties. What I love about them is that, in my opinion, they're some of the prettiest bulbs that are hardy for our region: many attractive summer-blooming bulbs in this part of the world are not tolerant of our winters, though with global warming, our ideas of summer and winter are shifting, and apparently, some bulbs feel the same way (for instance, I've had a few gladiolas make it through two winters here, which should not happen). I know that it's still technically spring, though really, the weather has not reflected that the last couple of years, and besides, a few of the varieties of lilies I have (Stargazer comes to mind) bloom in summer proper, and I hope to post a few pictures of them when the time is right, because the ones that come up in the summer — I think — are so spectacular that I almost don't feel worthy of having them grow on my property, here in Trenton. But they do grow well here: Trenton soil, if not all of its politicians and many of its inhabitants, is great stuff.

These here today are some of my early bloomers. The bright, deep pink ones are up first this year — and they're as tall as I am, and some have even bowed all the way over that I had to cut a few and bring them inside. They're far more beautiful than they were last year, or at least it seems: each petal is splashed with tone-on-tone pinks, and I just love it. I'm also starting to get some yellow ones bud up, which, I think came into my care as a different color; I think they reverted to yellow, which yesterday, sort of vexed me (as I prefer red/pink/orange/purple to anything yellowish). But, the first yellow lily opened today, and maybe it was my good mood, or maybe it was just the power of the flower: it was so cheery, and freckled, with such lush stamens and prominent anthers, loaded with a heavy, sweet pollen, that I have had a change of heart about these yellow lilies. They're okay in my book.

So, no venom today. We'll see how things go with council and my neighbors tonight, and maybe I'll be back to my normal, critical self tomorrow.

2 comments:

Your lilies are gorgeous!! I have flower envy! Daylilies are fanstastic--they make a great ground cover and as an added bonus give us lovely flowers everyday to enjoy.

No venom here...About 2 years ago Mr. Clean & I were working in the front yard trying to fix the mess the previous owner had created...lucky us, that cool, quiet Saturday morning a landscaper on the way back from checking on a job happened to drive down our street with a truck-bed full of plants. When he saw us toiling away, he hopped out, offered us 6 shrubs and 12 orange daylilies for a price that would make anyone drool. He didn't need them and we got them for cost! 2 summers later and those dayliles have filled out and give us gorgeous orange flowers all summer. Thanks, Mister Landscaper-man!